Goldman Sachs Hires Its First Crypto-Trader

The cryptos are getting a wider recognition on Wall Street as its titan Goldman Sachs enlists a cyber-asset trader to assist its clients in purchasing and vending bitcoin and its ilks.

This occasion is special also because it is the first time this financial services company does hire in the digital currencies market unit.

Welcome First Goldman Sachs Crypto Trader

Justin Schmidt is the person who is now in charge of deals connected with the cyber-assets ecosystem in Goldman Sachs. He was hired by the Wall Street giant last week on a position of a vice president and head of cyber-assets markets. In particular, he began his role on April 16, according to the financial industry media outlet
Tearsheet.

Before joining the Goldman’s securities department, Schmidt used to be a senior vice president at Seven Eight Capital as well as a portfolio manager at LMR Partners, as it is mentioned in his LinkedIn profile.

A Long Journey Before The First Crypto-Hire

It is remarkable that since the end of 2017 there have been circulating rumors about this hire. In December, the notorious media agency
Bloomberg
notified that the company had intentions to set up a cyber-assets trading desk. Some media attempted to disprove the story, claiming that Goldman had already
got one.

The bank, in its turn, kept rejecting the rumors. Nevertheless, two years before that – in 2015 – the company appeared to be a part of a $50 mln funding round in Circle. At that time, it was developed to allow customers trade cyber-assets.

Finally, after four months of ambiguity, Goldman officially announced it has enlisted the first crypto-trader. The news about the 16 April’s hire started spreading only after four days since that when the company’s representative Tiffany Galvin released a formal statement:

“In response to client interest in various digital products, we are exploring how best to serve them in the space. At this point, we have not reached a conclusion on the scope of our digital asset offering.”

Goldman has always been known for been ahead of its rivals. So there is no surprise the company is piling funds into a person who is supposed to help it examine crypto-options for clients.

As Tanaya Macheel concludes in the Tearsheet material, the fact that Goldman currently gets involved in the crypto-ecosystem is rather a “facilitator” than a real “market maker.” At present, Goldman offers its customers exposure to cryptos via BTC futures (by Cboe and CME), but it doesn’t interact with any virtual money exchanges, as per Galvin.